1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air bag system in an instrument panel in front of a front occupant seat.
More particularly, the air bag system can inflate to a designed inflation, even if there exists an obstacle near the instrument panel for restraining an occupant at a front seat. The present invention can provide less impact to the obstacle and maintain the occupant restraining performance, even if there exists no obstacle.
2. Description of the Related Art
The known air bag system includes a folded air bag housed in a storing portion, which is provided in an instrument panel in front of a front passenger seat. The air bag is inflated and inflated toward an occupant quickly by introducing high-pressure gas into the air bag, when a vehicle is crashed for restraining the forward movement of the occupant, which is caused by the inertia force.
The air bag needs to be inflated smoothly in case that an obstacle is near the instrument panel. For example, the obstacle is a child safety seat facing rearward relative to an inflating direction of the air bag. Even if the air bag is brought into contact with the obstacle while the air bag is being inflated, the impact imparted to the obstacle by the air bag needs to be reduced. After the air bag is inflated, the configuration of the air bag needs to remain stable.
To cope with this, the following related methods have been used: (a) the air bag is inflated to avoid as much as possible a risk of contact with the obstacle in the inflating direction of the air bag by improving the method of housing the air bag; and (b) the configuration of the air bag is improved so as to avoid the contact with the obstacle when the air bag is inflated.
However, with the method under (a) there exist problems. One such problem is that the load inputted relative to the windshield becomes large when the air bag is inflated. A second problem is that the air bag is not inflated to the designed configuration due to the obstacle, whereby the passenger rest raining performance is deteriorated. With the method under (b) there exist problems. One such problem is that the designed passenger restraining performance is deteriorated by the varied configuration after the inflation of the air bag.